After Frederik Andersen was pulled on Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs may have to rely on their backup plan to get through a tough stretch.
When asked earlier this season who the MVP of the Toronto Maple Leafs season was, without a doubt I said Frederik Andersen. When he is on his game, the Leafs are a confident group, and up until this point they have not had to deal with any issues.
Andersen was coming off an injury that kept him out of the World Cup of Hockey. Since then Andersen has settled into the blue paint and everything was working smoothly. That was until a clash against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night.
Curtis McElhinney replaces Freddie Andersen for the #leafs. No word from team, but can't imagine that's performance-related.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 26, 2017
After the game Babcock said that Sabres doctors pulled Andersen in what some are speculating to be a concussion, which seems like the most logical explanation at this point. It is still unknown what caused the injury, which makes it tougher to diagnose. Now the question becomes, how long is Andersen out and what safeguards do the Leafs have in place to deal with this?
Can McElhinney Hold Down the Fort?
There is no way to know how long Andersen will be out for but to answer the second question, the Leafs only have one option at the moment: Curtis McElhinney.
McElhinney currently sports a 4-5-0 record in 10 games with a 2.75 GAA and a .919 save percentage. These are not terrible numbers for a backup but considering the limited number of games that he has been played it will be tough to know what he can do with a heavier workload. The most that McElhinney has ever played in his career was 32 games and he had a 12-14-2 record while adding a 2.88 GAA and a .914 save percentage.
Those are not terrible numbers but would that be enough for the playoffs? It could be enough to get the Leafs through a short absence from Andersen. If he were to miss the rest of the season then that is another problem all together.
What other options do the Leafs have?
The Leafs do not have a lot of depth in the minors with the Toronto Marlies when it comes to goaltending. Garret Sparks just returned from an injury, Antoine Bibeau has had his ups and downs, and Kasimir Kaskisuo has only three games of experience at the AHL level. The Marlies are also in a playoff hunt but at this point the Leafs will be a priority.
The best the Leafs can hope is that Sparks can take his strong season and translate it into something at the NHL if it comes to that point. He has a 17-7-0 record in 25 games with a 2.16 GAA and a .925 save percentage. In 17 games with the Leafs last season Sparks has a 6-9-1 record with a 3.02 GAA and a .893 save percentage, but that came with the Leafs in last place with far less talent than what they have now.
Next: Leafs Lose to Buffalo Sabres, But All Eyes are on Frederik Andersen
Right now McElhinney brings the experience that the Leafs need in this situation and obviously Sparks could get a shot if McElhinney struggles. All Leafs fans can do is hold their breath and wait for an update on Andersen and hope that they have the safeguards to keep the Leafs afloat until his return.